As We Know It
by Elle Reynolds
Summary: The beginning of the rest of their lives unfolds in the first chapter of this novel in progress.


Flash back about two years ago and she was ending a relationship she could easily say was a huge mistake. Of course most of her friends could have told her that to begin with, and most did. But at the time, there was nothing pointing out the obvious to her. In her eyes, there was a nice boy who truly cared about her, and not believing in love, that was enough for her.

Lo had never been a rebellious girl. Not in her 17 years of life did she ever purposely disobey her parents, stab a friend in the back, or do anything out of the ordinary. She led a simple life, a life that she was content and comfortable with. She was a slightly above average student, getting mostly B's on report cards she brought home. School didn't really hold her interest. She couldn't be classified as a bookworm, teacher's pet, overachiever, or anything along those lines. She simply did the work she was supposed to do without contributing much in the ways of effort. She was an intelligent girl, but she had to be inspired, and learning about factoring polynomials, how to construct a perfect MLA document, and all that history nonsense was unappealing to her to say the least.

When she was a little girl, her grandma had signed her up for lessons at a lakeshore art studio. It was there that she found something that she could fully, happiness intact, apply herself to. Art. Creativity was her calling, being able to think outside of the box instead of in between the lines, finding passion in colors and patterns, not words. She lost herself in finding herself for the first time.

Years passed, and Lo continued to do what she so loved, but as she got older her schedule became more demanding, and attending lessons got pushed further and further down the priorities list until there were none at all.

In middle school, with persuasion from her family and the music director who happened to be her neighbor, Lo decided to take up playing the flute. Music, like drawing, was a passion. It was that right side of her brain always taking control. Learning the instrument was not nearly as difficult as learning the music, but after she got the hang of it, Lo was a wonderful flutist and she enjoyed it for the most part. She participated in the school band for three years before she and the flute decided to part ways. Every now and then she will get it out of her closet and play a scale or two, but those music reading days were short lived. If anymore came from those three years than her perishable sight reading capabilities, it was that she had made a very good friend.

Liv had been in the choir program at their school for her first middle school year. After deciding that it wasn't her cup-of-tea, she decided to give band a try. Being a girl who kept to herself, Lo had her music on her own music stand at the end of the row, the very end of the row that was followed by a line of empty seats. Also being a girl who was always polite, Lo offered the new girl a music stand to share and the rest is history. Through their last few years of middle school, and their high school years to, while Lo and Liv weren't always side by side, they were almost always confused for each other. Both girls had long blonde hair, blue eyes, and similar personalities. Liv was a little more out-there though. Taking a lot of the same classes, and having the same initials, the two were almost always seated next to one another for at least the first half of each trimester. Until the teacher became so frustrated with the fact that she couldn't properly yell at the two chatty girls because no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't call the right girl by her right name. It got to the point where their friends would have the same problem and the two girls got very used to answering to one name or the other without the slightest giggle. Liv, is where Lo's mistake began.

After getting out of La Clase de Espanol, the two girls were headed to their shared locker in the junior wing of the school when Liv was stopped by a boy that Lo had never seen before in her life, but the name on the back of his junior varsity soccer jersey led her to believe that he was the younger brother of a boy in their grade, and he was. She was later filled in that Liv had met him during the cross country season, and she and Lucas had become pretty good friends. She was also filled in on the fact that they were ONLY going to be good friends as Liv was embarking on a very big mistake of her own, Jake.

After numerous encounters in the hall, several witty bantering sessions, and an occasional bit of advice, Lo and Lucas started to become friends. And for a long time, friends are all they were.

Lucas was interested in Liv, but Liv paid him no attention, well, enough to keep him still interested. Liv didn't mind the attention, but her thoughts were directed elsewhere. And Lo, she wasn't really interested in anyone, yet. The school year came to an end, and so did Lo and Lucas's communication. They were good friends at school, but only at school.

Lo loved the summertime. Sleeping in, or waking up early to run along the warm and empty roads, laying out in the sun for hours trying to perfect that much desired summer glow. Everything about those leisurely three months brought a smile to her delicate face. It was three months out of the year that she could run the clock. No having to be any certain place at any certain time, being home, her favorite place, for an entire workday without her parents listing chores for her to do, and checking up on the progress of said chores every three minutes. No nothing. Her two younger sisters, Emma and Guiliana, were old enough to go play at friends' houses down the street when they felt like it, which was practically every day, so Lo had much of the days to herself. While being alone wasn't always something she enjoyed, in the summer it was perfectly fine. Her parents were home most evenings, and on the weekends. The little they were around was more than any of the three girls appreciated. They didn't get along. They would yell, swear, and on occasion hit. In the girls' lifetime, police had been called, mom had been seen crying numerous times, and sometimes dad would leave and not come home for days. It was a never ending, drunken cycle, and the girls were always caught right in the middle. But Lo always had an escape. Every Wednesday, and every other weekend, Lo's biological father, and best friend, would pick her up at 6p.m. and take her to his house. Those were the times she looked forward to the most, but deep down, she always felt really guilty about having to leave her sisters in the mess she was momentarily leaving behind.

Her dad had remarried too, and thank goodness he had made a better choice than her mother. Nora, whom she called mom ever since she was 3, was just as much her mother as her biological mom. At her dad's house, Lo had two younger sisters, and a younger brother. She didn't have any friends in his neighborhood, but she didn't really need any. Their family was always on the go, somewhere to be, something to do, someone to visit. There was never a dull moment, and while Lo liked an easy-going lifestyle, a little change was good now and then, and she enjoyed their family outings.

Nothing too monumental had happened over the summer, and everyone started the new school year with high hopes. Lo couldn't wait to finish her senior year and move on to bigger and better things. Her classes were all relatively easy; she could fail four classes and still have enough credits to graduate. Not feeling particularly up to a challenge, she had compiled a list of easy classes, some of which she may even enjoy, to get her through the year. The one she was looking forward to the most was art.

When she arrived to the class at the beginning of second period, she noticed a few familiar faces at a table and headed over to sit with them. One face she didn't recognize, other than seeing around in the halls, she later learned was a girl named Jennifer. Jennifer had shoulder-length, dark brown hair, and rich brown eyes. She was of Asian descent, had sense of style, and a way of telling stories that could captivate any listener. It wouldn't be too long until Lo and Jennifer were good friends.

Walking out of the class Lo spotted Lucas, but without stopping to exchange hello's the two simply walked right by one another like there had been a one way mirror built right down the middle of the hallway, blocking his vision to the other side. Lo didn't know what to make of the situation. Had her not talking to him over the length of the summer made him forget who she was? Did he know exactly who she was and just have no interest in continuing their friendship? Or did he simply not see her through the crowd of others rushing to find their next class? She couldn't be all together sure, but she decided not to dwell on the subject and continue on with her day. The quicker she got to her classes, the quicker they would be over, and the quicker she could get home, put on her bikini, and try to pretend she was still lying in the rays of the summer sun. It was a shame that autumn seemed to be approaching so soon this year. But first, computers.

After a long, hot, seemingly useless day, Lo was tired of being crowded by others who shared her overwhelming enthusiasm for being there. There was only one more class to go, and she was sure that one more hour wouldn't kill her, only come close.

C.A.D., computer aided drafting was her last class of the day, and she headed into the empty room completely unaware of what she was even walking into, but feeling assured that by the end of the trimester she would no longer need to ask. As she found a group of empty tables topped with one computer each, she pulled up a seat, dropped her backpack and purse on the floor, and pulled up her e-mail on the screen. It was a large room with grey walls. Tables grouped together, each with their own PC formed paths for students to walk, and cubbies for groups to work together. Students filtered in one or a couple at a time. None of the faces meant anything to her until one in particular surprised her as it entered the room.


End file.
